Road to nowhere
by Banana-Sprinkles
Summary: A collection of one-shots set before, during, and after the movie.
1. Ballerina

Disclaimer: I do not own little monsters; if I did it would have gone on forever.

It was late, very late indeed as a young Childs Mickey mouse alarm clock shows twenty after three, its hands ticking silently.

The owner of the clock, a girl of no more than nine, sleeps soundly across the room her toy bear protecting its Childs dreams chasing out the nightmares of monsters in the closet but it could do nothing in real life for its button eyes were the only witness to the scaly monstrosity that came out from under the bed.

Slowly, so as to not wake the beds occupant a long scaled arm reaches from under the bed pulling itself out of the seemingly solid floor; silently the rest of this mysterious un-welcome guest appears.

Old scuffed sneakers with mud caked in the soles, ripped jeans with a plastic bracelet hanging off one of the belt loops and an oversized rainbow T-shirt. Attire of a child, but this was no child not for many years now although its size suggested it the green scaled skin, pointed teeth and thin tail suggested otherwise. This was a monster.

Sharp yellow eyes scan the room looking for anything of interest as its tail swished slowly side to side coming within an inch of the sleeping girl.

As its eyes glided over books, toys and clothes they finally land on a football sized glass figurine of a ballet dancer, it incredibly detailed and very tempting to any monster looking for a good time.

Smiling with glee, its sharp teeth gleaming in the night, the monster starts across the room, moving swiftly but silently avoiding the scattered things on the floor with ability only years of practice can provide.

As the scaly hand closes around the figurine a light flashes from under the door its bright snaking arms coming close to the monster but passing it completely and flashing instead onto the young girls face causing her to groan in her sleep and turn over all the while the monster having frozen in absolute primal terror.

Standing there with its hands trembling and face contorted in a look of panic the monster no longer looks threatening instead the look of a scared little child passes on its face eyes gleaming with tears that are about to fall.

Then in a heartbeat the light is off, darkness once again ruling and the childlike features of the monster now disappearing replaced once again with mischief and mayhem.

Wasting no time the monster sets off back to work snatching the figurine off the table and turning back to the ominous shadows under the bed only to stop in second thought as an idea forms in its mind.

Waking up to the sounds of a garbage truck, so early in the morning the sun had only just started to rise, the young girls yawn caught in her throat as her mother pulled her out of bed ranting even before the girl was truly awake.

"Do you think this is funny?" Her agitated voice growled, still heavy with sleep.

"Do you not want me to have nice things?"All the while being pulled along to the living room where her father stood with crossed arms.

"But...what did I...what are you talking about?" the girl stuttered confused and now very nervous.

"This!"Her mother pointed and as she marched her daughter into the living room the girl saw it.

Smeared across the once clean wall was a large brown stain, the living room stinking of something foul and only once did she get close did the girl realise it was her name crudely written in dog poo.

"I didn't do it!" but her cry died in her throat as her father placed her now broken ballerina figurine onto the table his eyes flashing with anger.

"I found this buried in the trash this morning next to my work ties that you cut up, will you explain yourself young lady?" his nostrils flaring.

"But I didn't do it! I would never...I...it wasn't me!"

"Then who was it then, hm? The tooth fairy, Santa clause, the monster under the bed?" Her father continued to yell through the young girls tears not knowing how right he was for the scaly monster had disappeared back under the bed only moments before the sun had risen and the young girls mother had come storming into the room .

It now sat in a fit of laughter just under the bed , the world of shadows all around it and all the while through giggles and congratulations from other monsters it waited for moon rise when it could start all over again.

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All reviews appreciated.


	2. Mutation

The pain was so absolutely intense, a burning sting that burrowed deep into my skin causing me to screw up my face and dig my finger nails into my palm. If made even the slightest growl or hiss of pain I would be found out, so I suffered in silence as the suns first rays caused my body to cook.

I had never been caught in the sun before or even a light so I was relatively free of mutations, until now of course.

Through the pain I felt my face start to change, ears moving upwards to point like a pigs, two teeth growing larger until they felt like boar tusks and my hair turning coarse and rough so that it hung to my shoulders like a mane, a great new look that many a monster would be jealous of...if I made back to the shadows alive of course.

Although my extravagant new look would cause head turns back home it would also be the source of my friends laughter as now they would know I had been stupid enough to get trapped in sunlight, an act only new monsters ever got caught in due to their inexperience but I had been a monster for many a moon now and I would with no doubt be teased until someone else appeared with a new face or set of horns.

But no matter how embarrassed I was I had to return back to the shadows for I only had a small amount of time left until the sunlight would make me disintegrate into nothing and leave only a pile of clothes permanently.

So as I stood with a full body shake, the charms on my dress shaking, I got ready to bolt but was faced with a major problem, the closest bed was down a hall filled with sunlight and I was still in the kitchen ,the fridge still open from when I was pigging out, butter and ice-cream melting on the floor with soft drink staining the hard tile.

There was no guarantee that I would make it through the sunlight a second time but the decision was made quickly as someone entered the kitchen behind me emitting a groan only a parent could do as they spotted the mess on the floor completely missing me as I ran back to safety.

Although the sun burned down on me as I ran I still smirked, even if I did turn to a pile of clothes at least I would go out with a mess a monster would be proud of.

Smoke now visible from my sizzling body I leapt the few feet back under the bed hearing a scream as the occupant awoke to the sight of a short pig faced monster half turned to clothes leaping under their bed with such force that it made the metal framed bed rattle.

With a loud 'thud!' as I hit the wooden staircase I realized I was finally back in the safety of the shadows, the never-ending black sky clicking together with wood planks locking those of us who had gotten back safely down below until the next moonrise and those stuck above doomed to become nothing more than a pile of mysterious clothes in someone's room.

Although I was out of the sunlight I was still steaming and with a squeak of distress I patted myself down as best I could, extinguishing any part that looked as if it would burst into flames, involuntary yelps of ouches and yips escaping my mouth.

A band of monsters was running about, each of them panting hard from exhaustion at trying to chase the moon to get a few more seconds of fun and mischief and as I came to the bottom landing of the stairs the tallest of them ran into me , the thick smoke billowing around me indicating a serious case of sunburn .

"Whoa! Hey bud bet the suns up!" He smiled as the others around him groaned, obviously new as they lacked any mutations what so ever.

"Try California!" I called as they all agreed in glee and bolted for the next state over while I still stood in my cloud of smoke "I gotta quit smoking!"

Finally the smoke stopped as did any pain and it was only then that the thought occurred to me that those new monsters look a lot like children but I shook that thought away as i heard the snorted laughter of a friend.

Across at another stair landing he gripped the banister howling in laughter when he took in the sight of me.

"About time you got burnt! Some other guys and I had a bet going when it would happen, looks like I won!" His multiple eyes shining with anticipation at whatever prize he had won.

"Oh shut up." I grumbled , pushing him down as I passed him but instead of ending up alone I had walked into my large group of friends and when i saw each eye start to shine or tail wag with happiness I took in a deep breath ready for the long day of congratulations and teasings that were sure to come.

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All reviews loved!


	3. Regrets

"_I'm ganna miss you Maurice, I really am." _

As I lay in bed at night the last words I said to the greatest friend I ever had echoed in my head.

"_You know what, you're the best friend I've ever had."_

"_And you're the ugliest friend I've ever had_"

But now at my nineteenth year, now officially an adult those memories had started to slip away.

Being replaced instead with worries of school, work and whether I could pay my bills this month.

"_Hang on, hang on..." As tears are about to escape my best friends eyes he hands me his prized vest._

"_Oh no Maurice...I can't."_

"_Just relax I can get another one, how else are you ganna remember me anyway?"_

After I had dragged myself out from the monster world for the last time, wishing that I hadn't looked back as it had been the most painful moment of my life, I decided that I would never forget the greatest friend anyone could have and had begun to wear his vest where ever I went.

On my first day of high school I was teased and avoided then after and when I wore it to my grandfathers funereal I was screamed at for being disrespectful.

But I did not take it off.

Until the unavoidable day came when a girl had smiled at me in the hall but had walked away at the sight of the vest and when my first boss had yelled at me about dangerous accessories in the work place and why I could not wear a vest in a garage, the vest having been caught on a saw and almost killing me.

After that I had only worn it on weekends or after work or on special occasions and then only when my friends needed a laugh after a hard day but then I had to stop, my heart giving a leap one day when a great tearing noise came from the vest, my arms having grown too big for the sleeves and causing a small tear in the collar.

After that it sat wrapped up carefully preserved in a shoe box, sitting in the back of my dark closet.

Forgetting about its existence for months at a time, only remembering it when I went digging for a lost sock or tie but the memory of it disappearing quickly afterwards.

I was getting older, my childhood memories beginning to slip away and the best memory of all vanishing quickly in the sands of time.

I can't even remember what colour Maurice was anymore or if he had two horns or four.

What was the name of Boys body-guard, snip? Slip?

...How did we even rescue Erik?

I was fast becoming an adult and there was nothing I could do about it.

"_I wish I could stay."_

And as always I found myself wishing I had stayed there, Turned around at the last second and dived into the shadow world, even if it meant I'd have left my friends, my parents, and Erik behind.

And like every other night since I left Maurice I placed my hand on the shadowed wood underneath my bed , hoping and wishing that it would fall through and I could return home but instead finding nothing but cool, ominous shadows.

OoOoOoO

Years had passed since Boy had been destroyed but down here time was different.

Years could pass in a heartbeat and days could go on for a millennium, no monster bothering to keep track, after all what was the point?

For awhile tho Maurice had kept track of time, going back to Brian's room to mess things up or steal something neat that had suddenly appeared in the 12 year olds room, not noticing how Brian aged over the years or how his room changed, Brian being eternally 12 in his mind.

But after 7 long years Maurice, having kept track of every month found that one day there was no Brian.

His room empty, even his wiffle ball of a brothers devoid of anything. No toys or clothes or even boxes, just nothing.

Night after night Maurice came back, staying until sunrise and then returning to the safety of the shadows, hoping for a sign of his old bud throughout the day thinking that he would come back as if he had just stepped out. But soon he started to stay shorter and shorter, some nights not coming at all. After all there were plenty of other children to scare and in the meanwhile he would just scare them until Brian came back.

But finally Maurice stopped coming.

Any memory of a Brian Stevenson erased from his mind as if he'd never had existed, after all a forever child's mind cannot focus on one thing for all eternity.

As all monsters explored the ever-increasing world of shadows so did Maurice. The darkness expanding into parts many had yet to explore.

But no matter how far he searched or how many screams of fright he heard Maurice never found the right child to scare.

A small part of his memory remembering a forgotten boy with a flashlight.

OoOoOoO

Maurice was right.

This was Brian's first thought after he kissed his new wife Kiersten, her white wedding gown stretched across her bulging stomach.

But who was Maurice?

But the thought vanished as quickly as it came as the cheers of the crowd sounded.

When little Jamie was born, with his mothers hair and fathers eyes, Brian had realized that a small one-roomed apartment wasn't big enough for a baby and through the sounds of his wife telling him he was too childish he decided to move.

Not soon enough was kiersten's thoughts one day as she noticed little Jamie's toys were beginning to go missing. The thought of rats carrying off his little stuffed lion or the stuffed red bear that had 'Jamie' written across its chest making her shudder in disgust. After all, what else could it be?

One morning they had awoken to find the fridge turned off, the only thing missing being a small packet of biscuits and although the blame went too little Jamie, who was just learning to walk, Brian felt déjà-vu as he stared at the unscrewed light bulb in the fridge.

On more than one occasion Brian had awoken to the TV being on. Blaming it at first on little Jamie as the station was usually on cartoons but other nights it was on a late night talk show, the guest being a scarcely clad bikini model who giggled a lot, something increasingly familiar about this but Brian just blaming on his own forgetfulness, after all what else could it be?

As Brian unlocked his apartment door the once cramped rooms now feeling huge with no furniture save for a small bassinet Jamie had outgrown, he searched around for little Jamie's dummy he had managed to drop .

As he searched in the dark, the power having been cut off, he got the distinct feeling of being watched but turned to see a nothing but a shadow flash on a wall and disintegrate into the darkness.

Never knowing there was another being there for the scantiest of seconds.

Finding the dummy in his old bedroom he finds something else...an old shoe box , the lid having to be peeled off because of its age and the way it had been squished, but when it was open nothing was inside...had it once held something or was this nothing more than a piece of rubbish left from moving?

Trying to piece together the puzzle a sad friendly voice plays faintly in the shadows of his mind

"_Where there's a bed there's a way._"

The voice familiar but making no sense what so ever and so very far away, an echo of a faded memory just trying to get its owner to return back to where he truly belongs.

But Brian, his mind now an adults shrugs the box off as nothing more than trash and the voice as nothing more than a quote from a bad, late night movie and locks the door behind him.

Leaving his childhood behind.

OoOoOoO

Finally 10 years after Brian left, Maurice had found him although he didn't remember him.

As he pulls himself out of the shadows into a dark apartment, the snores of a young toddler coming above from a crib, Maurice gets ready for another night of adventure.

Stretching, he notices how cramped it is. Baby things, boxes and bags of storage all squeezed into the space leaving almost no room to move around in.

Quietly sneaking around the scattered things he decides to explore the place, maybe finding another older child to scare for life.

But, unsuccessful, he finds nothing but a couple of parents sleeping silently across the hall. Nothing of interest here save for a strange feeling in his gut.

Shrugging it off and deciding to get something out of this experience he grabs a small stuffed animal and returns home with intentions of coming back. Just to explore he tells himself.

After the few times Maurice had come back boxes had started to appear and furniture disappear, the once cramped rooms becoming emptier and emptier.

Soon the only thing left was the bassinet he kept coming out from under, the boxes, parents and young child disappearing.

When he came up one night finding everything gone, Maurice had decided that this was his last visit. Even tho he never really found anything of interest to make him stay in the first place.

With no one around he could be as loud and obvious as possible and choose to explore the only place he had never looked before.

Opening the closet door, the one in the parents room always too hard to get to, he came across only a squashed old box sitting in the corner.

Covered in stains and dust he peels off the aging cardboard lid, now as thin as paper.

Thinking of finding a valuable antique to smash up in monster ball he is met instead with black leather.

A vest, BORN TO BE WILD stitched on the back with badges and knickknacks clipped on the front.

Not a very valuable thing to be smashed up but an awesomely cool vest that would guarantee jealous looks.

He had to have it.

Slipping it on, patting away the dust, Maurice had found something that looked and felt so familiar.

An image of a boy pops in his memory, dark hair, adventure and mischief in his eyes and a torch clutched in his hand, but Maurice diminishes this as the infamous BOY who had once ruled the monster world.

With that Maurice turns away, all thoughts of a boy forever gone from his mind only to be replaced with new ideas of how large he could get spit balls if he made them out of newspaper only to get stuck with how to spit them through a straw ...After all a child can't spend eternity thinking about such adult matters.

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All reviews appreciated.


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